My Mother's Eyes
by Genatools
Summary: Dabi had something to think about after his encounter with Endeavor after his battle with High End. A decision was made over the span of hours, to visit someone he never thought he'd see as anyone other than a figment of a long-dead past. To become someone he has buried deep within his mind long ago... No burns ever came close to the wounds of his heart when he saw her again.


**Hello there MHA fans, this is my first time getting into this fandom and depending on how I get through my other stories and life stuff, I may write a full-on story for this wonderful anime and manga. For those you don't know me I'll do a quick TL:DR intro, names Genatools, I go by Gen most of the time, I primarily write RWBY fanfics but open to the idea of getting into an MHA fanfic idea. I was inspired to write this One-Shot by a YouTube video Animatic by a "Zowca!", called "My Mother's Eyes." Which featured Dabi and the fan-theory that he is a Todoroki. Honestly, at this point, I don't know why the author hasn't already revealed it. I do believe it myself and I am sure most of you do as well if you're reading this. Either way, I hope you enjoy and I hope I do well jumping into this world for the first time!**

**Cover art belongs to an artist on Pinterest!**

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_My Mother's Eyes_

* * *

Dabi sat down on the edge of a bridge with a tired huff that caused smoke to blow out of his lungs. He looked toward the beaming yellow sun going down in the distance and sighed twice more. Today was a… tiring day, to say the least. He would have liked to get his hands on Enji Todoroki like he desperately wanted to, but that weird Bunny Hero just _had _to get in his way. Bah, it was so frustrating.

The number one hero was _right there_. Practically already in his deathbed by the time he even showed himself. Hawks, the number two hero wouldn't have been able to stop him even if he wanted too. What bad luck. Dabi let out a groan, he would have loved to give Enji more than a few scars back there. If only he just had another few seconds, his blue cremating flames would have rendered them both into burned carcasses. It would have been the one time he would have embraced the nasty stench of a burnt dead body.

Then Hawks had to go on and get all temperamental with him. Calling him a liar and all that meaningless nonsense. Yeah, he could admit he got a little ahead of himself there and went back on a very specific deal for him to _not _get involved in the battle between Endeavor and the High-End Noumu that Ukijo managed to cook up for them. But he just couldn't help it. Really, what villain _wouldn't_ when the number one hero was on his last legs like that? It was only natural. Luckily the guy understood that it wasn't a good idea to try and rescind himself from the League as their inside man, because then he would have had to smell a burnt corpse again. It would have been annoying. He spouted off some BS about how he couldn't fully trust the number two hero just yet and that was that.

He still got cracked up when Endeavor realized who he was up against, what was it he said again? He was sure he could remember it, it only happened a few hours ago after all.

"_You are the one who murdered the sand hero Snatch, or so I hear…"_

"Yeah, that was it!" Dabi exclaimed with laughter. "Snatch… man, I haven't thought about that guy since I killed him." He added with a chuckle. Snatch wasn't all that difficult to defeat. His sand was pretty annoying but his blue flames proved more than a match for the sand hero. With the help of Compress for a moment, the sand guy _really _didn't stand much of a chance. The fight lasted for less than a minute. It was pathetic, really. How could a pro hero manage to be so weak and lose so easily to him?

"_Haven't you stopped to think about how their families feel!?" _Dabi remembered Snatch asking him as they began their fight.

"Heh," Dabi reached into his coat and into an inner pocket, pulling out a burned photo that cut off the images of a few other people, the only person still visible on the burned photo was a white-haired woman who was smiling at the camera. She looked happy, whole, a far cry from what she must be like nowadays. "I thought about it so much," He wiped away the blood from the staples underneath one of his eyes as a rare occurrence of tears leaked out from his burned tear ducts. "I went crazy." What he couldn't catch fell onto the photo in his slightly shaking hand.

There was a name on the back of the photo, he flipped it over to remind himself of who that woman was. Rei Todoroki. The woman who unfortunately had to bear him as a child of Endeavor just about twenty odd years ago.

The bloody tears quickly stopped as he remembered the reason he became Dabi, the flame villain as the public media came to call him by. The burned piece of paper was shoved back into his pockets and he lunged up to his feet and let out a scream of pure rage. His burning blue flames bursting from his arms and face as a blue explosion went off around his body.

It hurt immediately, though he has quickly grown numb to the pain. After suffering the burns from his own Quirk time and time again for years it became a simple part of his life. The pain was pain, and that was all that he needed to regard it as. Nothing more than a simple natural reaction from his disgustingly scarred body.

He didn't know when he decided to do what he was about to do next, but as he let himself simmer down clear his mind of all the painful memories of a dead life, he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked away from the aftermath of his explosion. In the distance, he could hear sirens. Of course, someone nearby would have seen his little outburst, so now he had a time limit to get the hell out of dodge.

Escaping any attention that may have been brought to him, he slipped his way back into town and stalked around as he always did, looking for anything worthwhile to do. Tomura would always give him a call if he needed him, that or Himiko with her stupid fascination for his scars would come to find him and bring him back to their dingey little hideout so that their wonderful leader could tell him to do something again. Seriously, the only reason he was still hanging around was because of All For One, who promised him something that no other person on Earth could get for him. That, and for his own personal reasons. Endeavor, of course, being the main cause of his reasons.

Oh well, he couldn't keep feeling frustrated about his failure to get his hands on Endeavor forever. He had things to do, potential recruits to look at and burn if he didn't like them. That sort of stuff always calmed him down one way or another.

* * *

He didn't when he threw that idea out the window and started walking toward a certain mental hospital, but he threw on a hood to hide his features and was now staring at a tall structure. '_Musutafu Mental Hospital'_, the big white letters taunted him. It was late at night now, the moon beamed over his head and he started making his way toward the entrance of the building. His mind was blank the entire time, honestly, he had no idea why he was going there, returning to her of all people. It wasn't like he had anything against her, she was always a decent memory back when he was someone else. Back when his hair wasn't dyed black and the scars on his body were much less obvious and didn't require being stapled together for him to stay in one piece.

Entering the building was a lot easier than he thought it'd be, honestly. If he wasn't here for a any good reason he would have been able to torch the whole place down with how little security there was in here. Not that he would have anyway, he's made it a point not to attack hospitals. The people there weren't worth his time and he wasn't _that _heartless.

The clerk at the receptacle gasped as she looked at him, though thankfully not with recognition. Good, not everyone knew what his scars looked like or how bad they were, but it wasn't like everyone would know who Dabi was. The clerk calmed herself down and sat up straight, apologizing quickly for her apparently rude actions.

"I'm here to visit... a patient," Dabi told the red-haired clerk.

"Of course," The receptionist typed into her computer. "What is the patient's name?"

Dabi shut his eyes, waiting for rejection the moment he allowed her name to come out his mouth. "Rei Todoroki."

To his surprise, the receptionist didn't seem put off by his request and instead asked a difficult question. "Of course, and what is your relation to Missus Todoroki?"

The question put him off, but he knew it had to be coming sooner or later. He let out an internal sigh and resisted the urge to walk out of there. If he didn't do this tonight it would bother him until he got around to it, and he'd rather not have his head stuck wrapped around it if he got into another fight, especially if it was someone strong.

"I'm… one of her sons." Dabi's throat burned at the very reminder of that fact.

"Well, luckily for you visitor hours last for another hour. You have until nine o'clock sir," What? It was seriously that easy? Dabi felt shock run up and down his spine, his heart pounded a little faster, was this happening already? "She is in room 315 sir, enjoy your visit."

Dabi nodded and walked off to the nearest set of stairs. Assuming that room 315 was on the third floor, he opted to take the slowest route possible. His hoodie that he stole from some sweatshop suddenly felt hotter, ironic given what his quirk was. He ascended the stairs at a slow pace, and there was no one chasing him up or down. He almost expected for heroes to have set an ambush for him. Them somehow finding out what he was and who he was long ago. Who he really is. What he is daring to do that night. But as he ascended the stairwell those doubts were washed out of his mind. He wouldn't have been allowed to get this close if there was a planned ambush, hell, he wouldn't have even been able to get inside the building itself if they really knew what he was coming here.

It was impossible for them to know anyway, he only just decided to go there about an hour ago. There was no ambush, and there was nothing stopping him from going to see his mother.

The room was right there, Dabi walked up to the door and traced a hand over the plaque that read his mothers name, confirming it to be Rei Todoroki. Thoughts ran through his mind, telling him to turn around and walk away, some of them even telling him to not even open the door and just burn the woman on the other side into ashes and be done with it.

No, instead he gave in to his calmer side and grabbed the doorknob and twisted. The door clicked open and he gently pushed. Letting himself in.

The same white-haired woman from the photo in his coat sat there with her back turned to him, she seemed to be looking down at something at the moment, most likely a book or a cup of coffee. He didn't know what mental patients had to do in mental hospitals, but he couldn't imagine that it was fun. She didn't even know he was in the same room as her even as he shut the door behind him, clicking it shut and groaning softly in his frustration as he realized that there was no lock on the inside of the door.

He froze when he heard a soft gasp from behind him. His turquoise-colored eyes turned to their corners to look at a pair of brown eyes and a mop of white hair staring at him, wide-eyed and apparently shocked.

Now it was too late. Dabi let out a resigned sigh and reached up to his hood, pulling it down to reveal his horrifically scarred face.

"Hey," He greeted her a little awkwardly, waving at her with one hand as he did so. "How've you been, Rei Todo-"

He cut himself off and gasped as the woman jumped up from her seat and pelted against his chest as she threw her arms around his sides. Pulling him in desperately for a tight, and emotional hug. Dabi didn't know what to do, how to feel, Rei's hug was full of affection and pure love.

"T-Touya… I can't believe it." She… recognized him. Not only that, she remembered him. "I-I thought I was never going to see you again after your father… he…" She bawled her eyes on into his chest and gripped his clothing with a vice grip, never letting go.

She recognized him… like this? Like the monster, he looked like now? Dabi was at a loss of words, but he could still feel. His shaking hands, stinging with pain from his staples and burns, reached up and gently rested on top of his mother's shoulders.

"Touya…" She cried into his chest. "Touya…" She kept repeating. Each time she said his old name, she pulled herself deeper into the embrace. Dabi eventually couldn't help it and allowed himself to hug his mother back, his eyes burning as trickles of blood leaked out of the scars underneath his eyes, staining his mother's white hair with red as it dripped on top of her head.

She was so short now in comparison to him. A full head shorter, and so much smaller, so much _weaker_. It fueled him with rage as he embraced her. Endeavor… he really wanted to end that man— that _monsters_ life.

Rei finally pulled away after what seemed like an eternity of hugging her long lost son who was thought to be dead years ago. Though not far enough so that her hands couldn't still reach up to his face and cop his cheeks. She smiled a beautiful smile at him, seemingly unbothered by his terrifying scars that would have sent any other weak-minded man or woman running away for their lives in terror. Her eyes especially entranced him, those brown eyes of hers brought out memories that he had thought he had suppressed so tight under a lock that they'd never be brought out again.

He remembered shortly after his Quirk manifested, Endeavor was so excited to see that his son had even greater fire powers than he did. However, that excitement quickly dwindled as he realized that Touya didn't only just inherit a more powerful flame quirk, but his body and skin were much too similar to Rei's, which created a huge weakness for the boy who was then discarded soon after their next child, Fuyumi, was born.

He remembered the times when his blue flames burned and scalded his skin, his mother would cool them down for him. Over and over like a cycle, for years, Endeavor forced him to push his limits time and time again, burning himself time and time again in the same places that Endeavor always had his Hellflame Quirk active, on his chest, face, and arms. Time and time again, Rei would help cool him down. It sucked the most when she was pregnant and had little energy, she couldn't properly cool him down, and the scars slowly started to become permanent.

"I thought you were Fuyumi coming to visit me again," Rei said as she wiped a tear from her face. "She always visits me around this time when she gets out of work… My isn't this a surprise." A weak laugh tore from her throat as she shook.

Dabi caught her almost instinctively before she could even begin to teeter over. After giving birth so many times, being forced to share the same bed with a man like Enji Todoroki over and over again in efforts to conceive more children, her body grew weak. So weak that she couldn't be a hero anymore. Not that Endeavor ever cared. after Fuyumi showed signs of having Rei's quirk with a side effect of steam, Endeavor went on to Natuso, and once he showed that his Quirk was also ice-based, Shouto was next.

Her hand reached up to touch his scars, and with a soft exhale, he let her run her hand across his cheek, neck, chest, and then down his arms and to his hands. "Your scars… they must hurt."

"Yeah…"

"Though, I must say that they do look very cool," Rei added with a loving smile. Unconditional love. It had Dabi feeling guilty all of a sudden. "My Touya…"

"Heh… thanks." Dabi flinched and looked away to the side, looking at anything besides her eyes. He couldn't stand to look at them. "I… am more than that now, though. Mom."

He's killed so many people, burned them to death and left their burned corpses to be found by some poor bystander, all in an effort to just find who was strong enough to be worthy of joining the League. His actions in the forest where the UA students were ambushed by the league, him capturing one of those students with the help of a few of his villain friends. Everything beyond that point, the list of terrorist acts grew and grew...

Endeavor started getting desperate as Shouto grew, so much so that he went back to his first child in a desperate attempt to get Touya to get over his weakness. It was so sudden and unexpected that Fuyumi and Natsuo were too shocked to see their father for the first time after years to even attempt to save him, not that they could, anyway. It was already too late.

Again, Endeavor sent him through the wringer, forcing him past his limits, burning himself and going even beyond that. It got to the point where Touya had enough, and he immolated himself and pushed his flame Quirk to the absolute maximum and blasted his own father away. Unfortunately… that also lead to him burning his body beyond repair. Technically, Touya did die that day. But woke up in the morgue weeks later. Things he'd rather not remember went on, and here he was now. Dabi, the flame villain of the League.

"We have a lot to catch up on then, don't we Touya?"

Dabi's eyes widened slightly with a realization. Rei… his mother, had no clue who Dabi was, did she? No, she couldn't have, if she did, then this all would have gone down much differently to how it is now.

_She has no idea what I've done… _He thought to himself as a small smile crept up his lips. He forced himself to look back into her eyes and felt a dead part of him come back to life. His heartbeat with not rage, but something much warmer, and for once it wasn't because of his Quirk.

_Sorry, Tomura… _Dabi said as he took off his coat and wrapped it around a chair. _But let me become Touya… just one last time._

He originally went there to kill her. The last figment of his past that forever stayed with him, even into his path to becoming Dabi. But now, he could live with her being around a little longer, and perhaps sometime after that as well.

Just one more time… he wanted to let himself feel human again.

_One last time…_ Touya thought to himself as he and his mother sat down across from each other, each of them looking into the eyes of the other. Their _conversation_ would last the entire night.

* * *

**And that's that itch officially scratched off. Man, I don't know what came over me. I was supposed to be on a break. For those who know me and have been following me for a while, and who know my current situation, I had a burst of inspiration after reading the MHA manga again, and watching the new season of the anime. Which was good considering what happened. Which means that I will be coming back to my RWBY stories very soon. But after this one, I think I might have at least one MHA story to write once I get through all these other stories I got going on all at the same time.**

**Sadly, other then potential one-shots, I am not going to be starting an MHA story anytime soon. I work, go to college, and write all at the same time so I already have some baggage that fills my entire schedule. But, for those of you that might have enjoyed this quick little work of mine, one day I may just come back with full-on fanfic for this series. **

**In the meantime, hit me up with that review and I'll be on my way. It's good to be back, even if it has just been a couple of days… man, I really have to stop saying that I'll be gone for a while when I am clearly not. I really underestimate my own mental strength sometimes. **

**I hope you enjoyed!**


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